art

Well, not really. I am a human being. However, I was born in the year of the dragon in accordance with the Chinese zodiac. The dragon is one of twelve creatures written into the folklore of the zodiac. There is one creature for every year of a twelve year cycle.

A city full of art!

Every year SEED hosts an artwork competition that showcases the talented young men and women from our SEED Schools! I am lucky enough to be able to see this artwork come into the SEED office all summer and I admire how gifted these students are!

I am a musician. I play the harp. I also once played the clarinet and the piano. I took dance lessons for 12 years (ballet, tap, and jazz). And I love to draw and paint, but I'm not very good at it. I love the arts and I love the intersection of science and art. Without science, you wouldn't have art. And without art, science would be very lonely and boring.

Nobody can deny the growing emphasis on STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, among the educators and educational reformers. The emphasis on STEM comes with a hidden cost. As more attention is devoted to STEM related curriculum, it often means subtracting art or music from the already limited time and resources at the school.

Over the course of my career, I have had a few people suggest that I go into teaching art, since that is my training and passion. Now, I am fairly confident I would make a very average teacher at best - I tend to think too much about what you "should" be telling kids. As luck would have it, I have nonetheless been called into service to help someone near and dear to me: my younger son.

If you didn't have the chance to participate in this year's artwork program, share your thoughts and imagination with us now. Tell us what the natural teaches us via drawing, painting, photograph, poem, or something else.